Archbishop Tutu told me, a few years ago, that he had received a strange email from someone claiming to be a lawyer from a small English parish in which Tutu had been a curate in the 1970s.

The person was asking for Tutu's assistance in transferring the fabulous wealth of a deceased Nigerian prince to his widow.

“Ah, a 419 scam,” I said.

“A what now?”

I explained what a 419 scam was, and, fearing the worst, asked what he had done about it. It turned out that he still had a number of friends in that area, and had forwarded it on to a friend to investigate.

“Never heard of this lawyer chap,” the response came, “DO NOT respond!”

So, of course the Archbishop responded.

For a moment, I put myself in the shoes of this “Nigerian Prince”, getting an email from “Archbishop Desmond Tutu”, shaming the alleged prince for attempting to scam innocents on the internet. I started giggling.

“So what happened next?” I asked.

“Oh, he emailed me back, and tried to sell me something else.”